Art Lesson: Georgia O’Keeffe Flowers

I’m making a science of copying other’s genius and having a jolly good time doing so. I love the availability of great ideas, and getting to put them into practice as part of our homeschooling journey. We studied Georgia O’Keeffe in CC this year, and wanted to delve a little deeper at home. I pulled ideas for this lesson from The Art of Education and Teaching Stars and also printed out a color wheel to discuss warm and cool colors as the building blocks for our masterpieces. Printables (free ones!) at the conclusion of this post! You know you want them.

I loved this quote from the artist. “Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven’t time, and to see takes time – like to have a friend takes time.” Georgia O’Keeffe

Part of my issue with art is taking the time for it. Because for me, like many others, art does not come naturally. It has to be intentional, focused and purposeful to happen at all. My sister however, is a freaking art genius. It was her birthday when we did this project, she considered an hour of drawing/painting the best present ever. Crazy woman.

This activity forced me to slow down and really look at the flower I was super-sizing on my paper. The flecks of freckles dotting the pink orchid. The streaks of pale yellow floating towards the edges.

Before we began, I gave the kids a brief bio of Georgia O’Keeffe by pulling information from the Georgia O’Keeffe museum. Then I had them study the flower they’d chosen for a little bit before we actually started drawing. I encouraged them to pay attention to the layering of petals, the variance in color and to think BIG.

The only requirement was that their flower needed to touch all the sides of their paper. My munchkins had a fantastic time with this! Yours will too!

Here’s a quick printable with some instructions, size examples and a biography of the artist. Hope this gets your artistic juices flowing!